Hold Congress Accountable

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As the "drop dead date" for Obama administration regulations draws near, we are expecting a flood of "midnight regulations." Regulatory agencies, in an eleventh-hour attempt to pass new rules before the start of the next administration, will make a huge push in ushering in new proposals. In preparation for this regulatory outburst, we have provided a brief guide explaining how proposed rules become regulations.

Last week, Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) introduced H.R. 5499, the Agency Accountability Act. Congress provides funds to federal agencies to carry out specified activities through the appropriations process. Too often, these agencies engage in activities that Congress has not authorized and pays for them via fines and fees they collect. This practice is an end run around Congress and the will of the people. Rep. Palmer’s bill would curb this practice, help restore the oversight function of Congress, and send the money garnered by federal agencies through fees to the Treasury instead of allowing those funds to be used indiscriminately.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced revisions to the proposed rules interpreting the Fair Labor Standard Act’s regulations on the overtime compensation pay of white-collar, salaried workers. Currently, salaried employees making more than $23,660 annually are exempt from the DOL requirement that employers pay time-and-a-half for each hour over 40 hours weekly. The final rule, with several key changes to the proposed rule, will extend overtime pay protections to over 40 million American workers.

The "drop dead date" for federal regulations is fast approaching and we are expecting more overreaching proposals. This is the last date that proposed rules can be finalized by the Obama administration, without fear that the next President will overturn them under the Congressional Review Act. Regulatory agencies are expected to release a flood of regulations before this date. This regulatory outburst, first noted in the final days of the Carter Administration, is known as "midnight regulations."

Financial regulators released a 279-page proposal that would set parameters around how and when Wall Street Executives make their money. The proposal, mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, is a five-year project spanning across six regulatory agencies.

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse. —James Madison, Speech in the Virginia State Convention of 1829-1830 http://www.freedomworks.org/democracy-and-power-101

Another day, another scandal. Since President Obama has taken office, government bureaucracies have taken part in systematic campaigns to silence liberty minded groups. While these partisan shenanigans are outrageous, Noble Prize winner James Buchanan explains they are to be expected. Dr. Buchanan developed a field of economics built around the idea that bureaucrats are merely human (surprise!). In other words, bureaucrats respond to incentives.

In a previous post, I've discussed the horrifying effects on patients in Great Britain's National Health Service (NHS) when government bureaucrats make medical decisions based on a formula that measures the expected quality of life if a patient is allowed to survive.

Amongst the litany of failures by the Obama administration’s domestic policy, none seems to be more salient than their naïve utopian energy policy. You can already hear the clamoring of “drill baby drill” bellowing from conservative pundits and average Americans, who are adversely affected by skyrocketing energy prices and deficient energy policy.